Medicine: Vive la R

Across France last week, doctors were trying to make a monkey of the
government-controlled health-insurance system. A patient might have
nothing more serious than a cut finger, but the doctor would fill in
his form showing "grave lacerations, permanent incapacity
probable.'' A Paris arrondissement was thrown into uproar by the report
of a case of yaws, which proved to be a physician's whimsical entry for
la grippe. In many areas, coroners had to invoke police aid to force
doctors to make out death certificatesand quite a few were signed
"Paul Bacon." Who was Monsieur Bacon? None other than
France's Minister of...